Safe and Sound

A little late, I know, but Mindy and I made it safe and sound to Hong Kong. The plane ride was long but they fed us 3 times! And they had On Demand movies and TV shows for each seat! I watched 27 Dresses (it was ok). I tried watching The Firm (it had been forever since I saw it last) but fell asleep at least 3 times before conceding defeat. Never finished it. Interesting thing about the flight was that it was day time for the entire 15 hours. Couldn't look out the windows because it was way too bright.

I was worried about the 13 hour difference between Hong Kong and Texas and how that would affect my sleep. It turned out to not be a huge problem because I had been keeping rather strange hours since I was working on my dissertation and I had gotten only 3 hours of sleep before I left to meet up with Mindy in New York (I stayed up late after graduation packing for my trip and left very early the next morning to have breakfast with my family). The lack of sleep and the long flight made me tired enough that I went to straight to bed when we arrived at Mindy's mom's place in Hong Kong, at about 9 pm Hong Kong time. Perfect! I have been getting up at about 7:30 am every day too. Couldn't have done it better if I had tried. Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be easy going back to the US.

The most amazing part is that I have apparently learned how to sleep on planes, buses, even ferries. Trips longer than about 15 minutes and I start to nod off. I also fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow when I go to bed. It may be that I am just soooo exhausted with all of the walking, shopping and sight-seeing that I don't realize I am tired until I sit down for a moment.

Because I know you really want to see them (more than you want to read my babbling), here's a few pics from my first day or two in Hong Kong. I will be more thorough later.

My first new friend in Hong Kong was an endearing little turtle named Sam. See how cute he is? How could I resist!

Me and Mindy in Stanley Plaza with some very old pillars that were moved to this spot:

Amazing buildings and architecture (just a taste, I promise more later):

A garden at a temple (love those roofs!):